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BYU vs. Utah State: Five Game Observations

The Old Wagon Wheel
gets to stay in Provo for another year and the Beehive Boot returns to the
Brigham Young Cougars for the first time since 2009. A few questions that I
have been wondering about were also answered, as the Cougars have reached the
halfway point of their season.

1. Who will be under center for BYU?

It was announced
before the game that Taysom Hill would be the starter and that Riley Nelson
would be available for the game. Nelson never saw the field, but acted as an
emotional leader, waving his towel over his head on the sidelines and cheering
for his teammates the entire game. Hill, on the other hand, took every snap,
and had a couple of nice moments.

Hill ended the night
with 235 passing yards on 24-for-36 passing with one touchdown and one interception.
He also rushed for 80 yards on 19 attempts. Most of his passes were short
screen and slant routes, but he did have a few deeper, down field throws to Cody
Hoffman. The drive he orchestrated to end the first half was beautiful completing four passes for 61 yards in just 25 seconds. Even with the team only
scoring six points in the game, Hill got the job done in the wins column.

With Hill taking that hit to the knee at the end of the game, it doesn't look like we will have this same question next week. It is very unfortunate what happened to Hill.

2. Is BYU’s offense for real?

Blue Cougar Football
was right on the money in Wednesday’s article to be cautiously optimistic about
the Cougars’ offense. As mentioned above, they did execute one drive perfectly,
but were mostly stagnant the rest of the game. Even when getting the ball on
the 10 yard line to start the second half, the Cougars couldn’t put any points
on the board. Hill’s stats look good at a glance, but as far as getting the
ball up the field consistently, the offense struggled. Jamaal Williams ended
with 71 yards on 17 attempts, but over a third of those yards came on his last
two carries.

I wanted to get
excited about the offense after last week, but I need a bigger sample size of
games like that before I can really believe.

3. Is Utah State’s defense for real?

Yes, it is very
real. I claimed that Utah State’s national defensive ranking may have been more
to do with the teams they were playing than their actual talent, but I take it
back. They held BYU to 25 points less than their season average, and even held
the Cougars to 8 points less than what Utah State’s defense had been giving up
per game. The Aggies’ defense could very well lead them to their first ever WAC
championship.

4. Can BYU be physical?

The offensive line
did not seem to have the same presence it did last week against Hawaii. Part of
that was due to Utah State’s defense being a lot better than Hawaii’s, but it
also had to do with last week’s star on the offensive line, Famika Anae, being injured. It was announced before
the game that Anae’s football career is now over. An accumulation of injuries
over the many years battling in the trenches has put a future of living a
healthy lifestyle in jeopardy for Anae, and he and the team doctors decided it
was best for him to hang up his cleats. While the loss of Anae is unfortunate,
the offensive line needs to keep playing with the physicality that he showed.

The defense was very physical. Ezekiel Ansah pushed his way
through the Utah State offensive line over and over again, ending the night
with three tackles for loss, and five total. He did this while battling
sickness. That is the kind of physicality all the players need to develop.
Obviously not all of them have the perfect body type to do what Ansah does, but
a lot of the plays he makes are just as much effort as they are being a
monster.

Well, Utah State did score first and BYU did come from behind
to win the game, but it was not the typical style that we usually see from the two
teams. Utah State didn’t blow a double digit lead and BYU didn’t have a miraculous
fourth quarter as it seems always happens in big games. I predicted the final
score to be 24-21, with BYU coming from behind to win it. I got the spread
right, but definitely not the score.

Other observations I had were Cody Hoffman can be an NFL receiver if we throw him the ball and
the Cougars need to figure out their
kicking woes.

Hoffman, at 6-4 and 215 pounds, has a perfect build to play
at the next level. His skill set was on display last night, making multiple
athletic catches over defenders including a clutch fourth quarter catch where
he reached around the helmet of a defender to haul the ball in. He ended with
eight receptions for 114 yards. Hill was able to find him when it counted and
Hoffman came through. I believe Hoffman is good enough to play in the NFL in a
few years. My concern for him, however, is that if BYU continues to run such a
run-happy offense, he won’t get the looks from NFL scouts he deserves. I know
this has nothing to do with how the team plays, or whether or not the Cougars
are getting wins, but I would like to see the number of Cougars in the NFL
increase.

As far as the kicking game goes, I’m not sure what needs to
be done, but something does. The stress level for a lot of Cougar fans from
last night’s fourth quarter could have decreased immensely had the PAT been successful
and the Cougars connected on a field goal to start the second half, not to
mention having the other field goal attempt blocked. Kicking is so often
overlooked, but BYU has now had three games this season decided by three
points or less. That’s half of their games so far! Kicking needs to become a
priority.

Now the Cougars have
Oregon State coming to town in a nationally televised game. Questions
concerning the team will be further answered as they meet their highest ranked
opponent of the season.

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It is no secret that offensive coordinator Ty Detmer is not trying to run the same scheme he used as a player at BYU to rewrite the NCAA record book. The offense he wants to run resembles what he learned during his 14 seasons in the NFL.

Lackluster results this year has this approach under scrutiny. After all, Tanner Mangum does not look like the same quarterback who passed for 3,377 yards, 23 touchdowns, and had a 136 pass efficiency rating in Robert Anae's offense as a freshman.

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